This invention relates to a conveyor driving roller capable of conveying and accumulating articles carried on a roller conveyor.
Conventional conveyor driving rollers are of a construction wherein a roller is fitted over bushings which are mounted on a rotatable shaft and which may slip on the shaft for rotation relative thereto. The bushings frictionally engage the rotatable shaft and rotate with the shaft under the weight of a conveyed article. With such a construction, however, where the conveyed articles carry adhering oil or water, the roller is frictionally driven and rotates as expected to fulfill its conveying function properly during early operation. With entry of oil or water between the rotating shaft and the roller, over time, the frictional force between the two decreases to such a great extent, that when even a slight resistance is applied to the article under conveyance, for example, when the article under conveyance contacts a guide bar on the conveyor line, there occurs slip between the rotating shaft and the roller, thus making it impossible to transmit the torque of the rotating shaft to the roller, with consequent loss of the conveyor's function.